The captain wanted goal 980 in the Portugal shirt. He got nothing.
Ronaldo had seven attempts on Wales’ goal, five of them off target, and thought he had beaten Danny Ward on 59 minutes only for VAR to flag him offside in the build-up. He was substituted after 67 minutes, winning his 234th cap in Jorge Jesus’s first game as Portugal head coach.
Joao Felix settled it in the 22nd minute. The Al-Nassr forward was found by Nuno Mendes inside the box, and his shot bobbled off Ben Davies before slipping under Ward’s fingertips. That took Felix to 13 international goals and gave Jesus a winning debut.
Wales manager Craig Bellamy, beaten but not persuaded to write off the 41-year-old, put it plainly at full time.
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“Ronaldo, he’s one of the greatest players of all generations. You have to plan for him because he’s beyond dangerous, even at his age.”
How the 979 breaks down
No male player has ever officially reached 1,000 career goals for club and country. Ronaldo is 21 away, and his running total for club and country breaks down like this:
- Real Madrid: 450 goals in 438 appearances
- Portugal: 146 goals, the men’s international record
- Manchester United: 145 goals across two spells
- Al-Nassr: 132 goals in 156 appearances
- Juventus: 101 goals
- Sporting Lisbon: the balance from his first professional season
The last three came in Riyadh, not Lisbon
His recent scoring has all been club work. Goal 977 came away to Al-Riyadh on 21 August. A winner against Al-Taawoun followed on 28 August, his 104th Saudi Pro League goal. Number 979 arrived with a header at Abha on 9 September.
That is the pattern the countdown depends on. Portugal’s Nations League group has six fixtures across three international windows, and Al-Nassr’s league programme carries 34 matchdays before AFC Champions League Elite and Saudi cup football are added on top.
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“I want to get there and I will get there”
Ronaldo has stopped hiding from the number. Speaking to reporters before the Wales match, he said that he had “already admitted that I want to get there and I will get there,” and told Goal that landing the 1,000th in a Portugal shirt would top everything he has done.
On the retirement talk that shadows every international break, he joked that only “a shotgun” could stop him, and that when Portugal no longer wanted him he would simply “grab my ball and leave.”
Al-Nassr’s next Saudi Pro League match is at home to Al Diriyah at Al Awwal Park on Friday, 9 October, the first chance for goal 980.
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